


A Story Without You

by Stringless_Smiles



Category: Borderlands, Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: AIDS, Athena/Janey - Freeform, Blood, Comfort, Fluff, Gay ships, HIV, M/M, Tales from the Borderlands, a bit of action but no actual sex, borderlands - Freeform, id include angst, platonic gayperion, rhack - Freeform, some sexual talk, talk of death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2018-08-24 01:32:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8351098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stringless_Smiles/pseuds/Stringless_Smiles
Summary: Rhys breaks down and just lets Jack watch as a known virus or known as HIV takes over his life, but.. it doesn't get worst.. or does it?





	1. Discussions at the break of night

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading !!<3 If you have any questions about the story please ask me and my friend on our tumblrs !!  
> My tumblr is http://omega-rootbeer.tumblr.com/  
> and my friend is http://handsome-goddamn-jack.tumblr.com/  
> please and thank you for liking this if you did.

Jack was in his office, having a smoke. It had to of been around three in the morning at this point and he couldn’t sleep.  
His attention shifted when he heard the door open, turning to see what Rhys was up now too.

“Heya Rhysie.” Jack hummed softly. 

Rhys was wearing his normal Atlas uniform but today it was a bit loose at the shirt and he was  
A bit pale, but Jack knew why he was like that.  
“Hey Jack..”  
Rhys muttered and walks to his desk putting his hands onto the chair Jack was sitting in, his mismatched eyes blinking slowly at the older yet shorter man, “Hey Jack.. can’t sleep either?”.

“Nope, not having any luck..” Jack sighed, glancing up at the other, “I take it that you can’t either?” He questioned, taking a drag of his cigarette. 

Rhys nods as he rests his head onto the chair, “My body is hurting a bit.. so I can’t sleep..” Rhys looks down at Jack and moves over to sit on his boyfriend’s lap, hiding his face onto Jack’s shoulder with pain in his own chest.  
“I hate this.. being sick..”, Rhys sighed and softly kisses Jack’s shoulder.

Jack frowned softly, turning his head to puff out smoke, before bringing his free hand up to rub Rhys’s back. “I hate it too, sweetheart~” He sighed, pressing a kiss to the top of Rhys’s head.  
The feeling of Jack’s lips on Rhys’ forehead makes the taller smile, nuzzling into his chest, muttering softly.

“Remember when I was not sick..”, he closes his eyes and kisses his cheek. 

Jack hummed in acknowledgement, “ Yeah.. we had just started dating right before we got the news..”, the mentioning of when he first got the news made the man slowly shrink down into size and sighs.

“How long did I not leave the house..?” Rhys glances up at the older man with a bit of a pitiful smile, both out as a joke and him really wanting to forget about it but he couldn’t,  
he was stuck remembering on why he was sick often, why he HAS to stay in the office when they worked. He thought about the times before the /thing/ destroyed his body. 

“Oh god.. It was a few days.. I remember we sat around your place with a bag of pot August gave you.” Jack remarked, pausing for a moment in thought. 

“ I also remember we had to call Janey, cause we weren’t going to be at her wedding.” 

It had been a mess of a few days, sending their wedding gifts to Janey and Athena, smoking pot and making brownies. There was an instance of a scare where they hadn’t had safe sex ( though luck was on their side in that instant ).  
Rhys nods and tears up a bit, feeling his chest bunching up into a knot as the memories filled his mind with sorrow and anger. 

“Yeah.. I really still feel bad that we did not go..”. 

A sigh left his chapped lips as he moved a bit on Jack’s lap to get more comfortable and looks looks up at the ceiling.  
“And we still have to see if my other tests will come up ..” he voice trailed off and lets out again a sigh.

Jack nods as he takes another close to the last drag of the cigarette, a puff of smoke leaving his lips and turns his head again to blow it out of his mouth again. The memories and thoughts of the past 2 years have been nice, of course with its ups and downs. /Fuck/ the first weeks of their relationship was a hill of struggles and just a lot of comforting.. But to him it was worth it, having his boyfriend now on his lap, feeling the warmth of both of their bodies.

“Yeah.. we will get the tests within a couple of days.. Don’t worry cupcake, Jack will take care of you..” Jack hummed, his free hand rubbing soft circles on Rhys’ side.


	2. Talks of the past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the first part of a couple of chapters, before Rhys gets sick.   
> This is a long chapter so sorry

Jack was seated in his and Rhys’s office working, waiting on the younger man to return with new paperwork. He leaned back in his chair with a sigh, absent mindedly clicking his pen. 

Rhys moved through the building that was owned by both him and Jack, arms full of paper works he rushes to the building to their office and opens the door. "Jack-- I got the paper works" he said quickly. He was wearing his formal Atlas uniform that was mostly black, with here and there lining of orange and white, his robotic arm was silver and was no longer Hyperion marked, but pure Atlas.

Jack looked to him with a grin, clearing off a space of his cluttered desk. “ Here, bring it here.” he hummed once he had his space cleared.   
Despite the fact that he now technically worked for Atlas, the man still wore good old Hyperion yellow, the former AI now in a body going back to his roots. It was comfortable to him mostly, and he loved the color.

He nodded over at his coworker, both of them being the rulers of Atlas and start to go some of the paperwork, moving over and puts half of it on Jack's desk, moving to his own and starts going through it.   
Going through each file from what was most important to less importance, well at least to Jack on how important it was to them or not. 

 

Jack began to sort his pile as well, grabbing one of the hardest things of paperwork first and began to work.   
His face growing serious as he did so, ‘pointless..’ he thought as he signed one of the papers anyways to do a trade deal, that was different from Atlas to Hyperion. They never worked the same, Atlas was more of just guns and swords, Hyperion was more robots and guns.

A breath of relief leaves his nose and continues to work, making this a bit more harder on himself than he really needed it to be.   
"How has your day been..?"   
Rhys said as he looks at Jack for a moment than signs papers that needed to be signed, which as a few papers, but most was still just telling when meetings were taking place to just parties.   
Rhys looks back up at Jack from his papers just for a moment just so he can see Jack, admiring him still like how he did when he was MUCH more younger. 

“It was going pretty good, till all these stupid trade proposals came through.” Jack remarked with a sigh, a scowl crossing his face as he looked over a proposal.   
Whoever it was wanting to do the trade wanted more than what they were willing to give. 

Rhys hummed as he shrugged, "Got checked into doctors.. but other than that I am good."   
Rhys’ voice had trails of worry in the tone but he tried his hardest to hide it, not wanting Jack to worry about him, but then again; why would he worry about him, as far as his relationship with Jack were friends with benefits.   
They have messed around with each other often but would never actually /have/ sex. He looks back down at his paper and hummed. 

Jack gave a soft hum in response, “ Well I hope everything turns out good for ya.” He remarked, glancing up from his work to look at the other.   
He wondered what was wrong, but figured that work wasn’t exactly the place to ask, not that it was even his business anyways. 

"Yeah, I should be getting my results next week sometime" Rhys looked up at Jack with a soft smile, humming softly. 

“I made sure that the doctor would also send you the email, showing the results.. Only because you are also the CEO of this corporation..”   
Rhys said in a soft tone at the last word. Putting the papers down and rubs his temples as he finished reading over a large folder, “People I swear.. Need to learn not to complain..” his voice was breathless and scoffs at the packet. 

“I’ll keep an eye out for the email.” Jack replied with a nod, “ What are people complaining about now Rhysie?” Jack questioned, his brow furrowing slightly.   
Of course someone had some kind of complaint, why did that surprise him.

“Us having deals with certain bandits.. And speaking of which--” Rhys continued to read over things and grins softly,   
"Jack, some bandits want to make a deal with gun trades.. Yes or No? Because if we do, more people are going to complain, and I can tell you are not a fan of that.. Or do you like it when people complain to us for setting deals?”   
Rhys’ voice was teasing and was honestly a bit smug. 

Jack crinkled his nose some, "how do we benefit from it?" the older man’s voice was sour and more of a grumble, already thinking of just straight up saying no.   
"Money and some guns" Rhys was reading more, "Off brand guns" Rhys read outloud, it already knowing would not please the other, knowing how Jack got with what sounded like an unfair trade.   
"They want to exchange off brand guns and money for Hyperion tech?" Jack questioned with a snort hating the sound of that trade already.  
“Maybe if it was your buddy Vaughn and his little bandit colony, otherwise no.” Jack responded with a snort, returning his attention to his work.

"Yeah-- it is with him, he is still going through the torn down helios in check for any type of guns and all that." Rhys laughs and looks at Jack.  
"That sounds good.” He Checks in 'yes' and signs the paper. 

“Vaughn’s fine, any other bandits are a no though.” Jack stated with a hum.   
"But the vault hunters are a large ass no" Rhys hummed and chuckled, going to work on more deals and trades, putting down no every once in awhile and putting down things that he thought would be ‘nice’ to put down on paper. 

Jack nods an agreement, hissing slightly through his teeth in slight anger, "Yeah, no vault hunters."   
his blood boils from the thought of those filthy, back stabbing son of a bit- Rhys cuts him off of his thought with a soft hum, Jack continuing on what he was saying.  
"Anything else really important you got?"

Rhys nods and reads over the folder he had moved over to. "Just reminders for meetings and all of that.." Rhys scanned over it with a raised eyebrow, "Another trade.. from elpas.."

Hearing that single word makes Jack perk up with a large grin on his face, remembering all of the thing that had happened there, before Lillith came into the picture. "What's the details for the trade?" Jack questioned in interest.  
Rhys looks over at Jack with a confused look, hadding not seen Jack looking like that over a simple deal, "Just some people.. Janey.. and something about robots and rockets" Rhys shrugs and hums.

Jack hummed for a moment in thought, "Go ahead and do that one as well, I've done good business with Janey before." Jack nods and thinks again on what was so great about being there, that being one of his funnest memories he has.   
A peak of curiosity taking place in his tone of voice. "Oh?" Rhys did put down his approval, "when was that?" the younger male had not ever really heard Jack talking about his past, that did not involve his daughter. 

"Years ago, she helped out back in my vault hunting days." Jack stated, humming and looking back at the paper that was in front of him.  
Rhys nods in shock, really surprised about that., "That is really neat!" He goes threw more things, "And we are invited to the wedding.. Janey says ' I will keep Athena away from Jack as far as I can' “ Rhys reads the last part with a soft snicker.

Jack chuckled lightly, "I'd appreciate that, if you want to go we can." Jack leans back in his chair and puts his papers down, looking over at Rhys with a shit eating grin on his face.   
Rhys pulls out his echo and starts to dial up Janey, wanting to talk to her about the wedding, “Should I give her up a call?” Rhys asked and mimics the actions of Jack.   
"That sounds good" Jack said in a soft voice, he had talked to her or anything really from her in MANY years, after his leaving on the planet.  
"Speaker or no Jack?" Rhys asked, dialing her up and waits for her to answer the call. "Speaker is fine." Jack hummed, setting aside his papers to focus on the call.


	3. The Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once they give Janey a call more is said then hat was suppose too, leaving Jack in the middle of something that he didn't understand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO GOOD NEWS!! I HAVE ALL CHAPTERS TYPES BUT TEY ARE BEING EDITED, I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK LONGER THAN NEEDED!! BUT YOU WILL BE GETTING YOUR UPDATES NOW!

“Heya boys!” Janey answered, accent thick and loud. She was joyous, not having contacted either of the men for a long time. Her hair was in its normal style, but she was putting on a dress for the wedding.

Rhys laughs and hummed, "Hey Janey-- thanks for inviting us." He fixed the camera so she could see Jack on his echo device.

"Hey there, Janey~" Jack laughed, grinning widely, "and thanks for the promise to keep Athena away from me."

Janey nodded, walking out of the room, "Yeah no kidding, the last thing we need is having a fight worst than skags." She laughed and sat down, "How are you both?"

Janey nodded, walking out of the room, "Yeah no kidding, the last thing we need is having a fight worst than skags." She laughed and sat down, "How are you both?"   
Jack chuckled softly, "I'm doing fine. It's honestly pretty smart to get married soon, you know how busy Athena's line of work is." Jack grinned when Rhys spoke too quickly for Janey to respond to his jab.  
Rhys smiled and hummed, "I am doing great. It’s next week, right?”   
"Yeah," Janey nodded, grinning at Rhys, "When I said I was going to marry the shit out of her, I was not kidding around.I am really happy you both are coming,” Janey’s face suddenly changed into something darker, sadder. “We aren’t inviting the other vault hunters for what they did to Athena. They’re just bad news," Janey muttered.  
Rhys nods and sighs in relief, "That is good.."

"I wouldn't miss it for anything, even if Athena and I don't get along." Jack hummed, "I still can't believe what those fuckers did to her.."  
"What, knocking her out than kidnapping her to question her at gunpoint?" Janey hummed   
"Yeah, I showed them not to fuck with my girl!" Janey added with a cheer.  
"Yeah, like I know more than well enough that Lilith is fucked up, but that was still ridiculous. " Jack’s voice was turning dark, angry.

Janey nods, "I know right!? I mean-- I never liked the idea of what they do, but what she did was out of the question!" her voice grew slowly louder as she got angrier from her thoughts of the siren.  
Rhys just sat there silently and watching the scene unfold. He knew that Jack hated Lillith with passion, but he wasn’t sure how deep it went.

"Well, Lilith has no impulse control, and everyone else is just too afraid to stand up to her," Jack commented, tone snarky, "I learned not to trust her years ago."

Janey nodded, "Yeah. Athena told me the whole story.. about what happened" she said in a sad voice then looks at Jack with a sad expression   
Jack sighed softly, glancing away for a moment. “It... certainly wasn't called for, in my opinion anyways. I’m not going to talk about it, okay?"

Janey nods, "It wasn't.." She sighed and then looked at Rhys, "How did the testing go? Do you know if it is positive or negative?" She questioned voice concerned.  
Jack looked between the two with a quirked brow, curious as to what she was talking about.

Rhys shakes his head, "Nah, It will take a week or so." Rhys said, looking at Jack and smiling softly.  
Janey nodded and yawned, "Well Thanks for calling! Athena is going to be home soon and I have to take care of the house. See you all next week boys!”   
"See ya next week Janey~" Jack responded before returning Rhys's smile.

Rhys hung up and sighed, "That was fun--" a nod was given to Rhys by the other with a soft grin, "It certainly was, definitely a nice break from all the work." Jack hummed softly.  
“mhm”  
Rhys nods, "And now back to work.. I am about done with mine."  
"I still got a little left to do," Jack stated, shifting his attention back to work.

Rhys nods and takes out his last file and goes through it, looking up at Jack every once in awhile. He was glad that Jack did not ask about the test. He didn’t want to explain it right now.  
Jack was quick to go through his files, just wanting to finish up all his work.  
Rhys finished up and laid his head down on the desk, "Hey Jack?"  
"Yeah, Rhysie?" Jack questioned, glancing up from his work with a hum.

"Don't.. look into what Janey was saying alright? And next week I made sure that the doc would send you the results as well.. and so. Yeah.."  
Jack quirked his brow again. "Okay... I won't" he responded, tone curious and confused.  
"Thanks.." Rhys yawned and closes his eyes, his head still on the desk.  
"No problem Rhysie~" Jack hummed, working on his last piece of paperwork.   
"If this is all we have to do today you can head home if you like."

"Nah. I would rather at least keep you company~" Rhys smiled and looked at him.  
Jack smiled lightly in response, "Whenever I finish this we can both head home. Wanna grab a bite to eat tonight though?"  
Rhys nods and stands up, "That sounds good. We need to grab things for the wedding anyway."

Jack nodded in agreement, quickly finishing up and standing as well, leaving the papers on his desk in a pile. 


	4. Dinner and movies

"Got any ideas for a wedding present for them?" Jack uttered softly, looking at Rhys for a moment before leaving his office, holding the door for Rhys, a sly grin on his face, the normal grin that makes him look more of an asshole than normal.   
Rhys clears his throat for a moment and sighs softly, rubbing the back of his neck and walks to the door where he leaves the office quickly, avoiding the sly smile,  
"Well I have an idea for Athena.. but not for Janey??" Rhys said in a quick voice, gulping as he made eye contact with his worker,   
Rhys rubs the back of his head and smiled a bit.

"You just rushed your work--" Rhys laughs as Jack looked back at his office, shutting the door and closes his eyes. "It's nothing important, besides food sounded better than signing papers.." Jack laughed.

"So what are you thinking for Athena? I feel like Janey would probably appreciate something for her shop." Rhys looked at Jack as he was asked the question, Jack had a serious expression on his face and crosses his arms.   
"I can get her a new shield" Rhys shrugs and smiles, "Yeah, I think she would like that-"

"I really hope she will like it.." Rhys hummed and started to walk ahead of Jack, as if he knew what they were going to eat, Jack snickers and crosses his arms, following Rhys.  
"I think Athena would like that." Jack hummed following after Rhys,   
"So any ideas on what you'd like to eat?"  
"Chinese," He says quickly, looking back at Jack and smiled softly.

Jack grinned, "Sounds great, I love Chinese."  
Rhys smiled and his hand brushes against Jack's, moving his hand and walks to one of the fanciest ones. Jack smiled lightly, hand continuing to brush against Rhys’. Rhys looks at their hands and smiles softly, carefully touching Jack's hand with his fingertips.  
After a moment Jack decided to catch Rhys's fingers with his own, holding the younger male’s hand.  
Rhys smiles and laces their fingers and walks into the building with the good food.

Jack couldn't help but smile as well, giving Rhys's hand a light squeeze as he studied the menu.  
Rhys slowly lets go of his hand and looks as well at the menu, "See anything you like?" Jack hummed softly.  
Rhys looks up at him and nods,   
"I really enjoy the soups.. and I will also take an egg Roll." He smiled softly and takes his hand again. Jack gave his hand a light squeeze,  
"The soup sounds really good, I'll have to get some too, and chicken fried rice."   
Rhys nods and squeezes back, putting Jack's hand to his lips and smiles, "Alright." He waits for the waiter to get here to order

  
Jack smiled in return, "so are you excited for the wedding? I actually am."  
Rhys nods, "Well, why would I not be??"  
Jack chuckled softly, "Good point, pumpkin."   
Rhys laughs softly and hums, "Yeah, what plans do you have for lunch?"  
"Not sure just yet, we don't really have any paperwork or anything to do and it's not like a big deal for me to do it anyways." Jack shrugged.  
"Not sure just yet, we don't really have any paperwork or anything like that left, so it's like I have to deal with that." Jack shrugged. Rhys nods and smiles, "alright--"

"Do you have any suggestions? Cause I've got nothing, this was one of the fastest times we've gotten work done." Jack questioned.  
Rhys leans back and thinks, "How... about.... a movie at my place?"  
"Sounds good to me~" Jack said in a husky voice, a smile crossing his face.  
Rhys nods, waiting still.

Soon enough the waiter eventually made it to their table, taking their order.  
And now for the long ass wait for the food. "So, any ideas on what movie we're gonna watch?" Jack questioned. "Well... I have a lot-- any genre you like the most?"

"I'm a big fan of horror or comedy. Anything from those genres is good with me."  
"Are you okay with racist comedy?" He looks at Jack with a smirk

"That's fine with me, I don't really care." Jack shrugged.  
Rhys nods, smiling softly, "Alright.. that is what will happen then."  
Jack smiled lightly, "sounds all good to me~"  
Rhys takes his hand again and hums softly to himself, "I have snacks at my house"

 

"Really?" Jack questioned in interest.  
Rhys nods and hums, "Better pretzels than you can afford."  
"Hey, I used to make Blake buy my pretzels, that's why they were shitty," Jack chuckled softly  
Rhys snickers and shakes his head, "But you do have to admit.. it is kinda true"

"I'm willing to admit that the pretzels I ate are shitty, Blake had bad taste and I was lazy."  
"Yeah-- no kidding.." Rhys laughs and grins.

Jack grinned as well, "You gonna share your superior pretzels when we're at your place?"  
"No Jack I am going to eat them all"

Jack gasped in mock offense, "how rude~" he chuckled softly.  
Rhys smiles and shakes his head, ¨Nah Jack, I will give you them also.."When the waiter comes back with food and drinks Rhys claps his hands and hums, "Alright.. time to eat"

Jack chuckled, taking a sip of his drink, "Looks good~"  
Rhys nods and takes a sip of his soup, "This.. is really good--" Jack smiled sipping his soup as well,  
"What do you think?" Rhys leaned over the table, watching Jack eating the soup

"It's very good~" Jack hummed softly. Rhys nods and smiles content, taking a sip of his drink and eats his soup.

Jack continued eating his soup, only pausing to eat some of his chicken fried rice as well.  
Rhys starts eating his egg rolls and hands some to Jack, smiling softly and leans back against his chair, "Thanks~ you wanna bite?" Jack hummed, gesturing to his rice.  
Rhys nods and leans over the table a bit again, smiling softly at Jack and looks at him with soft eyes.

Jack smiled, scooping up a forkful and holding it out for the other to take a bite.  
Rhys takes a bite and hums, enjoying the taste of the rice, "That.. is good.."

Jack hummed happily, "that's what I thought,"  
Rhys nods and grins sitting back down and takes more of his soup, "This is really nice Jack"  
Jack grinned, "it really is, isn't it?" He agreed with a hum.  
Rhys hums back and nods, "Yup- It is ..."

Jack nodded, finally taking a bite of the egg roll Rhys had given him.  
"What do you think?" Rhys raises an eyebrow and takes a sip of his drink  
"It's good, " Jack hummed, "thanks for letting me have some~"  
Rhys chuckled and stands, "I have to go use the restroom alright Jack?" Rhys turns and walks to the bathroom.

"Alrighty, I'll be out here waiting for ya~" Jack hummed, continuing to eat his food.  
Rhys goes to the bathroom and does what he needs to do then comes back, drying his hands off and walks back over to him and sits back down.

Jack looked up to him with a smile, "I'm almost finished, but I wanted to wait till you were back to ask if you wanted to order anything for dessert."  
Rhys nods, he was a sucker for sweets and finishes up his soup, eating his eggrolls

"Anything you want in particular? And we don't have to get it here, I know a really nice ice cream place~" Jack hummed.  
"how.. about a peanut butter shake? We can share it." Rhys suggests, smiling.  
"That sounds good to me," Jack responded, smiling as well.  
Rhys nods, "I will pay for desert.."

 

  
"Okay, and I'll cover this,"  
Rhys nods and finishes his food, "Alright-"  
Jack finished up as well, "let me go pay and then we can get that shake,"  
"Alright, any ice cream place to go?" Rhys stands.

"There's a really nice one right down the street from here." Jack hummed, offering a hand out to Rhys.  
Rhys nods and takes his hand, lacing their fingers and walks to the counter so Jack can pay for the food.

Jack took out his money with his free hand, paying for their food.

"Now it's time for ice cream." He hummed and began to lead the way.  
He follows him to the ice cream place, going to the counter and ordering and then paying, walking to the table to sit down to wait for them to call out Rhys' name.

Jack smiled lightly, "now we just have to wait, hopefully, it won't be as long as it was at the Chinese place."  
'Nah-- I don't think it would, maybe 10 minutes.." Rhys lets go of Jack's hand and sit getting comfortable.

Jack took a seat as well, humming softly, " that's good."  
"Yeah-- no kidding.." Rhys nods and lightly taps his fingers on the table.  
Jack rested his elbows on the table, then resting his chin against the back of his hands.

"So do you have any specific movie in mind for tonight?"  
Rhys nods, "It is this guy from Pandora.. he has a VERY bad humor and he is just funny to hear about.."  
Jack hummed, "is that so?" He questioned with interest.  
"He jokes about anything and everything.. he joked about atlas before and it was pretty funny--"

  
Jack smiled, "sounds like it will be a good movie to me." Jack hummed.   
Rhys nods and gets the ice cream and two spoons for their shake, taking it to back to the table and sits down. "Alright.. dig in!"

Jack takes one of the spoons with a smile, taking a bite.  
Rhys uses his own spoon and takes bites of the ice cream, making pleasurable sounds about the taste of the ice cream. "This is good--" He said once he swallowed his bite.

Jack hummed in agreement, "really good~"  
Rhys nods and smiles, taking another bite of the ice cream, "This is fun.."

"It is, it's nice to take a night off like this." He hummed, taking another bite as well.  
"So Jack.. are we going to call this.. a hangout.. or a date..?" the last word was a mutter as he quickly takes another bite.

"I think I'd consider it a date~ " Jack murmured, grinning softly at the other.  
Rhys blushes small and nods, leaning up to softly presses his lips to Jack's, smiling.

Jack returns the soft kiss with a light hum, smiling as well.  
Rhys smiles to the kiss and softly breaks the kiss and sits back down, "Alright. Thank you.." Rhys still did not how he was going to tell Jack.. about why he went to the doctor.

Jack continued to smile, reaching back over to take one of Rhys's hands.   
"You don't have to thank me~"  
Rhys laces their fingers and nods, "Alright.."

 


	5. The ugly truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack finds out the hard way on what Janey was talking about, the hard truth that no one expected.

Within a week of from when he went to the doctors he did not go to work, he called in sick and said that he was sorry that they had to cancel plans, The doctor had not emailed Jack about it.

Jack was beginning to grow concerned, Rhys had never really called off before, and once he was done with what he was doing for the day he decided to stop by Rhys's, having even stopped to pick him up a few things just to make him feel better if he wasn't feeling well.

  
When he got there he knocked on the door.  
Rhys did not answer the door, but Vaughn did, he looked up at Jack with a sad expression, "Rhys.. does not want to see anyone.."

Jack frowned, biting his lip lightly. "I just wanted to check in on him.. he's never called off work before..."  
"Listen to Jack.. I know.. trust me. But this.. this is different. okay?" And with that Rhys had heard the conversation and walked to the door, he had his cheeks stained with tears and he looked worse than he ever has. "H-Hey Jack.." Rhys shoos Vaughn away and moved to open the door more.

Jack's frown grew, he'd never seen Rhys look so bad. He set aside the stuff he had brought, instead offering out his arms to Rhys.

"Rhysie, what's wrong, pumpkin,"  
Rhys hugs him tightly and breaks down quickly into a sob, he tried to speak but it came out as squeaks and mumbles. Vaughn stood behind and mouthed softly "Check your Email" and with that Jack's echo does go off, saying someone had emailed him.

Jack wrapped one of his arms around Rhys tightly, nuzzling the top of his head while making soothing sounds. With his free hand, he fished out his echo, quickly opening up the email and reading it.  
/Oh./  
He set his echo aside, now wrapping that arm around Rhys as well.  
"Rhysie, pumpkin.." he cooed softly, unsure of what exactly he should say to the younger man.

Rhys did not say anything, he just sobbed hard on Jack's chest, knowing now that Jack knew, He muttered softly "I don't want to go anywhere.." those words were the only ones that he could say clearly as he did not move away from Jack.

"We don't have to pumpkin," Jack assured him softly.

"Imma picks you up sweetheart, so we can sit down and I can hold you better." Jack murmured, shifting to pick up and carry the younger in his arms, taking him to the couch.

Jack sat, still holding Rhys. He adjusted his hold on him, bringing his legs up to encase the other even closer to him, simply holding him for as long as he needed too.  
Rhys tangles their legs when they both lay down on the couch, it helped a little but not a lot as Rhys just continued to cry, muttering that he was sorry for not telling Jack.

it only took about 30 mins for Rhys to fall asleep in Jack's arms, cuddling close to him and his eyes being puffy and cheek flushed from all of the cryings.

The entire time Rhys had been apologizing Jack continually assured him that he wasn't mad at Rhys or upset with him.   
Even when Rhys had finally fallen asleep Jack continued to cuddle him, not wanting to leave him.  
Rhys took shaky breaths as he slept, Vaughn walking in and puts a blanket over both of them and looked down at Jack, "Thanks for getting Rhys to sleep.. when he found out he just... lost it.. he said he did not want to go to the wedding so I will tell Janey unless you want to.."

Jack nodded lightly, nuzzling against the top of Rhys' head.

"I'll let her know, I think she'll understand.. last week she had asked if he'd gotten results.. I'm guessing it was about this.." he murmured softly, not wanting to accidentally wake Rhys now that he was calm.

"Thank you for the blanket."  
Vaughn nodded softly, "Thanks for being here.. I don't think he would be okay if you have not shown up." Vaughn leaves the room and Rhys curls up close to Jack.

He did not seem like he would be awake for a while

Jack hummed softly, eventually drifting off as well, still holding Rhys while he slept.  
A couple of hours later Rhys slowly woke up, looking up at Jack as the male slept and softly nuzzles onto him,

Jack roused slightly at the movement, and he peered down at Rhys through his lashes, before returning the nuzzle.  
Rhys smiled slightly and sniffled, "So.." he muttered softly, closing his eyes, "Do.. you think any different from me..?"

"No. You're still the Rhysie I love," Jack murmured, pressing kisses to the top of his head.  
He nods, sniffling and nuzzles closer to him, "Alright.. good."

"I'm not gonna let something like this change stuff between us sweetheart, I want you to understand that." Jack hummed softly.

"You're stuck with me," he added with a soft smile.  
Rhys snorted softly and laughs, nodding softly and sits up to look at him. "Alright, Jack.. Thank you.." He moves and softly kisses him.

Jack returned the kiss with a soft hum, sitting up as well.  
He puts his arm over Jack's shoulder and holds the kiss more. Closing his eyes tightly and smirks.  
just Lightly as he breaks the kiss and laughs softly

Jack chuckles softly, " I brought you some goodies, just random things I thought might make you feel better did you want to take a look."  
Rhys nods softly and sits down, rubbing his eyes and his hair was a mess. "Yeah.. please?"  
Jack smiled lightly, shifting to press one last kiss to Rhys's forehead before he moved off to grab the stuff.   
Most of it was sweets, though there were a few new cheesy movies in there and a few other items.  
Rhys smiled and laughs softly, taking it and hums, looking at the stuffed animal and hugs it and looks at the movies, "Gosh Jack.. you sure do know how to make a man happy.."   
He teased, "I like this.."

Jack smiled lightly, "I didn't know what was wrong at the time, so I kinda just grabbed stuff that o used to get for Angel when she wasn't feeling well." He hummed softly.

"I'm glad you like it."  
He nods and plays a little with the bear, "I really like this Jack.." He closed his eyes and lays back down on the couch, "Just.. I hope they all understand.. you can still go-- just not me.."

"I'd rather stay here with you, I think Janey will understand," Jack stated with a light smile.  
He nods and pulls Jack down onto the couch to cuddle him, "Where did we get the blanket..?"

 

"Vaughn brought it out for us," Jack hummed, wrapping his arms around Rhys.  
"Is Vaughn still here?" He looks up at Jack with a confused look and nuzzles his neck and shoulder.  
"Not sure, he might have left while we were sleeping." Jack murmured.  
"Alright.." He closes his eyes and starts to drift off just a little, "Do you know how long we have been sleeping..?"

"Not sure exactly, but it's been a while." Jack uttered, not really fully awake.

"It's okay, though if you want to sleep more you can."  
He shakes his head and sits up, "Not on the couch-- if you want to head to my bedroom we can.." he looked down at Jack and plays a little with his hair.

"That sounds good to me," Jack smiled, nuzzling against Rhys's hand.  
Rhys laughs and rolls off the couch, standing and takes Jack's hand. "Alright."

Jack smiled, standing as well, "later we can watch some of the movies~"  
Rhys nods quickly and takes his hand, and walks to the bedroom, flopping down on the bed.

Jack laid down beside him, nuzzling up against Rhys.  
Rhys nuzzles back and wraps arms around him, pulling him close and peppers his face/mask with kisses.

Jack smiled, a soft chuckle escaping him. He tilted his head some to catch Rhys lips, kissing him softly.  
Rhys kisses back, putting his hands on his hips and closes his eyes tightly.

Jack's eyes slide shut, one hand coming up to cup Rhys's face.  
Rhys nuzzles his hand and holds the kiss.

After a moment Jack broke the kiss, pressing several to Rhys's forehead now.  
"Love you~"  
"I love you too Jack.." He hummed and kisses his chin, cuddling into Jack and mutters softly. "Hey Jack.. what was Janey talking about-- with why you wear a mask.."  
Jack was silent for a moment, in thought.


	6. A/N

Hello everyone! This is Stringless_Smiles! 

I have wanted to apologize for the very very slow progress, I am currently in school and I don't have a lot of time working on it, I am going to say that after November, there will be a very large update, as far as the last chapters being done. I am wanting to finish the rest of the book and making it into a very long updated story. I am the only one right now working on it and so please understand that. I will also be going through a lot of corrections in my grammar and I will be adding in an extra editor to help me finish the story. 

I have gotten all the chapters done, but I need to go through it and edit it so you can get more feels with the last few chapters. 

My deadline is Christmas so I can get all of the extra things done with it. Please help and support this au by sharing it. If you have fanart or suggestions with what I should edit in into the story, please talk to me on my tumblr, Omega-Rootbeer, I would love to see what everyone can do. 

 

thank you for reading this and I will see you all soon.  


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